Reverse Justice
by CSIflea
Summary: Grissom has been working in law enforcement for almost 30 years, something was bound to bite him in the butt. Someone is out for revenge and has Grissom in their sight- is it a criminal or someone more sinister? Maybe even a friend? Grissom Whump, pls r
1. Chapter 1

**i know i know, im still busy with my other stories but this one wanted out so i just had to write it! i was thinking that there is way too little Grisson Whump out there and if you read any of my other stories you know that i love whump! im evil like that.**

**unfortunately i did request them for a present but didn't get them so i dont own any of the characters except the evil ones (they are from Fleasia)**

He opened his eyes to darkness; no sounds greeted his ears, nothing except the sound of his own heart thumping in his head. He was half laying down half sitting up, against a wall, he tried to get his legs straight but couldn't. He lifted his hands up and felt around, the room he was in could classify as a matchbox that was how small it was. He goes to his feet but didn't have much moving room so he could only stand up straight and sit down but without lights there wasn't much he could see.

Suddenly the door opened and he was grabbed and pulled out into a passage. The light blinded him and as he was blinking his eyes to try and clear the spots in his vision as a cloth was pulled over his head and he was pushed forward.

"Where are you taking me?" his voice came out as a whisper and he cleared his throat to try again.

"Who are you?" this time it was a little louder.

"Shut up and walk." Was the only reply he got as he was pushed harder and almost stumbled.

A rough hand was placed on his shoulder to bring him to a halt and turn him into a room. He was pulled by his arm and stopped about half way,

"Get on the bed." He felt around hoping to find some indication as to where the so-called bed was. Apparently he took too long and was roughly pushed on the bed. He positioned himself and almost immediately he was held down as a needle made his way into his neck. He started struggling but the effects of whatever drug he was given were taking his system over and he felt his limbs turn to lead. He became still as the blindfold was taken off. His head was placed on a pillow but he continued to look straight up not able to turn his head or even blink. He heard everything that was going on around him and he could feel the bed under him. A strange face came into view and smiled at him,

"It's a muscle relaxer. You will be conscious but we will be able to do what we want to without resistance from you."

He could feel the people take off his clothes; luckily they kept the boxers on. He felt someone touch his wrists and ankles. They were putting something around them but he couldn't figure out what it was. He felt someone applying something on his chest and he heard the familiar beeping of a heart monitor, he couldn't help but wonder what the hell was going on and he heard rather than felt his heart beep faster. Suddenly hands came up and put a neck brace on, effectively keeping his head stationary. He saw the same face as earlier come into view again and saw the flash of a penlight,

"Just checking if you are still with us. The effects of my 'lullaby' drug will be working of soon so we just need to get you ready for your treatment." With that he was gone again and the room fell eerily silent except for his heart beating fast and telling the whole world just how much he was panicking.

He didn't know how long he was lying there staring straight up before his eyes closed out of reflex. They were dry and hurting a bit.

'Finally it's wearing off,' he thought as he tried to lift his arms and legs but couldn't, he tried to lift his head but that was unmovable as well.

"See, I told you it would wear off soon." He didn't know the strange face was still in the room

"What do you want?" his voice was hoarse from the lack of use, he needed to know what the hell was going on.

"Why, we want you to feel how it feels to be a prisoner and we also want a little revenge. So your stay here might be a little unpleasant."

"Who are you?" the strange face started laughing

"I am a doctor, Doctor Witcher." He moved out of sight and came back holding a tube. Hands held his head down as the tube was forcefully shoved into his mouth and down his throat. He gagged and found that he couldn't breathe. The strange Doctor pushed a button and he felt air being pushed into his lungs. The doctor came back again with something that looked like a pressure bandage and looked at someone else and nodded. Another pair of hands took his head a picked it up as Doctor Witcher wound It around his mouth and nose and eyes, only leaving his ears open. Again a needle was pressed into his neck and this time he felt himself drift off.

"When you wake up we will be in your new home, so just relax and sweet dreams, Gil Grissom."

With that Grissom's world went dark and he knew no more.

**There is this little rectangular button at the bottom of the page, please put it to use and let the very eager muse know what you think! Thnx for reading CSIflea**


	2. Chapter 2: The clever escape take 2

**Heya, guys. here we go with chapter 2! thank you so much for all the reviews. pls remember that i only own the evil guys and the plot and of course the mistakes. enjoy. sorry if the first one didn't go through, but here we go again.**

"Where the hell is Grissom?"

The outburst came from Ecklie standing at the entrance of the break room. It was after shift and seeing as it was Grissom's off night he had to come in for a meeting. The rest of the team was sitting all over the room either eating or writing reports or in Greg's case playing on his PSP.

"WE don't know, Conrad." Brass had just come in and was looking slightly amused. "Why don't you start and then we can just catch him up when he comes in?" Ecklie huffed drawing hidden smiles from the entire team including Brass who openly grinned at the man. Grissom knew just which buttons to press.

"Yes, well. The reason I have called this meeting was actually to warn you guys." A few grunts and groans escape the team and Ecklie sighs, he could actually feel the animosity in the air-not that he cared. "A couple of days ago a criminal escaped a maximum security prison. We have reason to believe that he will be coming after you."

Looks of disbelief and shock was shared amongst the team as Ecklie stopped talking, Brass had gone pale as something came to mind. He had read the article just before he came here. Sean Burgess. Why didn't he see it before? He went cold as he remembered that Grissom had been responsible for his incarceration, he also remembered that threat that came with it.

"_I will get out of here Grissom and I will come after you. And when I do, no one dear to you will be safe, you will suffer with the knowledge that your people died because of you and when they are all dead you will be next."_

Brass shivered as he thought about the phone calls Grissom got after the trial. Late night calls with no one on the other end or just someone breathing, packages with dead birds or rats. It went on for weeks before it finally stopped and as the years went by everything seemed to be forgotten. But now Sean Burgess was out of prison and if he goes after Grissom things are not going to end well.

"So what does that have to do with us?" Warrick's voice brought Brass back to reality, and he took a deep breath. Ecklie caught his eye and gave a small nod.

"Because, " Brass spoke up and the team looked at him in surprise, "Grissom put the son of a bitch away almost 25 years ago and he swore revenge against everyone Grissom cares about."

"And seeing as he sees you as his kids, it's a safe bet he will come after you."

"Does Grissom know?" Catherine asked, fear coming through in her voice.

"I have been trying to get through to him the whole day but his phone was off."

Brass took his phone out and dialled Grissom's number but only heard the ringing in his ears, Grissom wasn't answering.

"I'll go by his house." Nick's subtle Texas slang piped up and everybody nodded as he got up and grabbed the truck's keys. "I'll go with," Greg said as he jumped up and ran after Nick.

The break room was silent, each busy with his own thoughts. The struggle to stay positive being lost as the feeling that Grissom wasn't going to be found at home settled in their minds and five prayers went up to the Heavens above.

CSILV

In a deserted warehouse a man was looking at the prone figure lying on the gurney. He had a sheet pulled up to his shoulders, his face bandaged and the ventilator coming out of his mouth pumping his chest up and down. What couldn't be seen were the restraints keeping the man on the bed. A smile crossed the lined face and he leaned closer to the figure on the bed until his lips was next to the ears of the unconscious man on the bed,

"I told you that I will come after you. You will die as my prisoner, Grissom, slowly."

CSILV

Nick got out of the Tahoe in front of Grissom's house. It looked like nothing was disturbed until they reached the front door. The locked had been broken but it was pulled closed. They put on gloves and pushed the door open and Greg took his gun out of the holster.

"Grissom?" Nick called out but got no reply. The living room showed signs of a struggle but they couldn't see obvious signs of blood anywhere. Nick spotted a syringe lying on the carpet and noticed that the furniture was moved almost as if to make room for something bigger, 'a body maybe' Nick's scientific mind told him.

"Nothing in the bedroom although it's been trashed." Greg had come back into the room to find Nick staring at the floor.

"He was taken and we weren't here to help him."

"You sure?" Greg walked over and stood next to Nick. He put his hand on the taller man's shoulder as he saw the indentation in the carpet fibres and the drag marks leading to the door.

"We need to call Brass." Just then there was a knock on the door and they both turned around to see an oldish lady standing there with big eyes.

"Are you gentlemen friends of Dr Grissom?" she asked in a high pitched voice. They both nodded and she continued, "Is he going to be ok?"

They looked at each other with puzzled expressions. "What do you mean ma'am?" Nick asked with as much charm as he could muster.

"Well earlier today an ambulance stopped in front of his house and after about 15 minutes the medics wheeled him out and put him in the ambulance and drove off. I was just wondering if he would like me to water his plants and take care of Patches."

"Patches?" Greg couldn't help but look around. No one really knew Grissom beside Cath and Brass but they've been working with him forever and he is still a private man.

"Yes, his cat. She must have run away with all the drama here today."

"Uhm we will let you know, Mrs…" Nick tried to get the lady good and gone so he could phone this in and get the lab busy finding Grissom.

"Mrs Jines. And please let me know."

"We will do that Mrs Jines. And thank you." With that the old lady left and Nick pulled out his phone.

CSILV

An ambulance drove into the warehouse and stopped close to the entrance of the offices. Two men came out dressed as medics, pushing a gurney between them. A man in a doctor's coat came out next and jumped into the back of the ambulance with the gurney. He reattached the ventilator and connected the heart monitor to show a steady heartbeat. He couldn't help but smile in anticipation; this was going to be fun. His brother was already gone and in the next couple of minutes they will be on their way as well to start their version of justice. He made sure all the wires and things were working properly and that the catheter that he inserted earlier was in the right place. Next he went over the papers to make sure they were in order and then he hit his hand twice on the divider between the driver and the back. The backdoors closed with a bang and the journey to their destination started. He settled back it won't be long now.

CSILV

"OK, we have road blocks set up and we are stopping every ambulance that goes in or out of Vegas. But we are short on man power. So I got Nick to help me with the one while day shift process Grissom's place."

Ecklie nodded as he listened to Brass giving him the run down over the phone. The rest of night shift was not happy with the idea that they were under orders not to interfere with the processing of the evidence at Grissom's house but they had to build a bridge and get over themselves. If they can't understand that he did it because it was best for this investigation then it was their problem. They were divided into pairs and helping with the roadblocks – it was the only way he could keep them busy. He just hoped that he didn't waste too much time before he warned the team or Grissom but he had a lot of things on his mind and he didn't have too much time to think about petty vendettas.

CSILV

Brass and Nick was stopping every car as they came out of Vegas but after about two hours nothing feasible had turned up yet and the ambulances that came through had no passengers or were on their way to a call out. Just as Nick wanted to give up an ambulance matching Mrs Jines' description stopped at the road block.

"Do you have any passengers?" the officer asked and Nick and Brass moved closer to see for themselves.

"Yes, officer I do."

Suddenly the doors opened and a middle aged man stepped out but didn't move towards them. He stood at the back doors.

"Is there a problem officer?" even his voice sounded like a doctor's, calm and professional. "Sorry I don't meet you up front but I need to keep an eye on my patient."

"That's ok, doctor…?" Brass walked up to the doctor and extended his hand. Nick followed, but he felt something in his gut. 'Why don't I trust this guy?'

"Doctor Witcher."

"Dr Witcher, mind if we take a look at your patient? We are actually looking for a friend of ours that was kidnapped." Brass sounded calm but also professional. Nick still hasn't said a word because he didn't trust this guy.

"Sure you can but I can't remove the bandages as this poor man suffered severe facial injuries and he is quite heavily sedated."

"Do you have papers?" Brass had climbed in but could see nothing that could identify the man on the bed as Grissom. He climbed back out to find Nick going over the papers.

"Joshua Posting, 53, burn wounds to the face due to a piece of exploding machinery. His condition is listed as serious but he is stable for transport to a private facility on family request."

"Wow, must be rich. What's the name of the place?"

"Happy recovery." Brass got out his phone and dialled the number. The receptionist that answered was extremely friendly and confirmed everything on the papers. They had to let the ambulance through, Nick cringed inwardly knowing what both Brass and Grissom would say if he only had his gut as evidence and where to shove his gut. He handed the papers back to the doctor and left hearing how brass told the medics and the doctor they are cleared to leave.

Brass looked at Nick walking towards the tent that was set up next to the road. He would deal with him later, something about the doctor he just met was nagging at him and he always trusted his instincts but with no physical evidence he didn't have proof that the patient was indeed Grissom, for all he knew that story was legit.

And so with that the ambulance moved away, and no one realised the guilt that would be eating them in a couple of days.

CSILV

**Ok, this is the part where i mention that i really don't like Ecklie. pls r & r and tell me what you think. pls go read the one shot i wrote called _A salute. _till next time - Flea**


	3. Chapter 3: please find me

**Heya! to apologize for the second chapter not working properly i decided to spoil my readers with another chapter. just a warning though there are serious Grissom whump in this chapter. and believe it or not i actually do like him...**

**Thanks for all the reviews and the alerts, they make the chapters come quicker. i don't own any of the tv characters but i do own the evil dudes that come from my planet called Fleasia. mistakes are also mine as my beta moved away and i dont have another one. enjoy!**

Grissom woke up slowly and his senses came back in portions and after a long time he finally managed to open his eyes. He was lying on a table with a light that was shining directly onto it. It reminded him strangely about an operating table, as he tried to move his head he realised that the neck brace was still on and with that he started to panic. He pulled at his wrists and legs which were restrained to the edges of the bed. He swallowed and found that his mouth was cotton dry, his throat was on fire. Grissom tried to look around as much as he could without much success, what he did see scared him even more. The room was dark besides the light that was shining on the table on which he lay casting eerie shadows on the rest of the room.

A door opened and for a moment there was more light in the room but it didn't help Grissom much as he couldn't turn his head to look around.

"Ah my patient is awake," Dr Witcher's face came into view. Grissom tried to talk but his mouth was too dry and the only thing that came out of his mouth was croaking. "Your mouth is probably dry, isn't it?" Grissom attempted a nod, "well tough, Mr Grissom." With that he walked out of sight but didn't leave the room, he came back with another bandage and began to wrap it around Grissom's mouth, "This is only temporary so don't worry it'll come off soon. The fun is about to start and we don't want you to scream too much." He finished with the bandaged and patted Grissom on his cheek. He walked out of the room and Grissom was once again alone. He started hyperventilating.

'What the hell is going on?' his mind was running trying to figure out what was happening but before he could even form a good theory the door opened again and a group of five people walked in. The doctor walked up to the table and tightened the restraints on Grissom's hands and feet. Another man came into view and Grissom's heart pounded against his chest. Sean Burgess, 'oh crap.' Grissom thought, 'I'm really in trouble now.'

"Yeah, you remember me. You remember the threat too? Well I changed it a bit, you will suffer first and then just before I kill you, I will kill your team one by one while you watch. But first I want you to feel how it feels to be a prisoner and helpless. My brother did a good job on keeping you in check but drugs is too easy. You will feel everything."

With that he walked away. Suddenly there was excruciating pain in his left leg and he could feel the bones break. The right leg followed and he screamed into the bandage around his mouth, his whole body twisted and turned but without going anywhere. While his mind was occupied to deal with this new situation his hands and legs were untied and he was picked up and dragged towards a wheelchair that was standing close to the bed. The movement made his eyes roll over in his head and he wanted to give into the beckoning darkness but the doctor was in front of him gently slapping him on his cheek and calling his name. He focused on the face in front of him only noticing the tears streaming down his face then.

"Now now Mr Grissom, we don't want you to pass out already, we need to put the casts on first." He took out a piece of leather and tied it around Grissom's eyes as he spoke, "you will only see this room and nothing else." Grissom felt the wheelchair move forward and knew that he was in deep trouble.

'Please let my team find me soon.'

CSILV

"We have nothing!" Nick slammed his hands down on the table in frustration, Startling Catherine and Brass who was sitting on the opposite side looking over some reports.

"Nicky, you need to calm down." Catherine used her most motherly tone she could muster in her sleep deprived state.

Nick just shook his head and his shoulders slumped forward as he leaned on his well-toned arms.

"The tests showed no other fingerprints in the house that didn't belong there. There were no foreign fibres, no DNA samples- nothing, nada."

"Greg said he got something." Warrick had just caught the last of Nick's little rant and wasn't really that surprised by his friends outburst. Everybody knew that the young man had a special bond with his boss and thought highly of Grissom.

"So where is he?" Brass' impatient voice cut through his thoughts and Warrick turned his brown gaze to the Captain standing next to Catherine, both looking like they haven't slept for days.

"He just wanted to check on a couple of things. Said he'd be right over." His words were hardly out of his mouth when Greg came in with a frown on his boyish face.

"What?" the words came out of four mouths and it would have funny in different circumstances.

"The patient you mentioned earlier?" he waited for Brass and Nick to nod. "I double checked things like you asked Brass." Again he waited for the man to nod before continuing, "It was Grissom."

It was said softly but it slapped the four people in the room with a vengeance,

"Are you sure?" Catherine asked, not looking at Brass but rather at Nick who were standing there with a look that reminded her strangely of a deer in the headlights of a truck.

"We found the ambulance abandoned. Sara went over it and found several hairs as well as a DNA swab. We tested it and it came back to Grissom."

"We had him and we let them take him." Nick said, his voice barely above a whisper, "We gave him to them and now they are going to kill him." Nobody answered him, and a shocked silence fell over the five people in the room.

CSILV

Grissom couldn't see anything and he couldn't talk. He did however hear everything as his legs was bent and the casts were put on. It hurt like hell and he gave a few muffled curses which had dumb and dumber laughing. Once again he was in the damn wheelchair moving and it wasn't long until it came to a stop and the sound of a door opening registered in his pain filled mind. Minutes later he was in the darkened room and the blindfold was taken off. Sean Burgess was looking at him with an evil smirk on his face, and a look that made him cringe. He cleared his throat and started talking while pacing up and down in front of Grissom.

"Before we go on, I want to give you a rundown of what to expect as well as the do's and don'ts. Blink your eyes if you understand me."

Grissom blinked.

"Good. Now you will speak only when spoken to directly. You will spend your days in a chair in this room, when you are taken out for whatever reason you will be blindfolded your nights will be spent a special bed which will be delivered shortly. You will not move unless we tell you to and if and when we want you to. To ensure this we will make sure you can't move. Give us trouble and you will be punished. Do I make myself clear?" Grissom blinked again. He was stuck and he knew it.

"Great, here comes your new chair. You should be honoured; I had it made especially for you."

The chair was a high-backed chair with hooks all around it. There was place for the restraints as well as leather bands to go around his head and chest. He started to panic as he saw the catheter bag hanging off to the side and looked at the doctor pushing the wheel chair. He started shaking his head as much as he could with the brace around his neck. Unfortunately Burgess saw this and started smiling.

"You moved and I didn't tell you that you could." He looked at the dumber twins and nodded. They came over to him and grabbed him roughly by the arms and dragged him to the table and pushed him to lie down. His hands were restrained to the table as well as the casts- not that he could move them in anyways. Tears of embarrassment burned his eyes as the doctor put the damn tube in where it was supposed to go. The doctor then moved to his face and inserted a feeding tube trough his nose and taped it to his cheek. He then stood back and nodded at Burgess who walked over to the wall and took of a thin rubber water pipe. He bent it a little and proceeded to hit Grissom all over his exposed arms and stomach. Ten times, ten lashes, as punishment, and it hurt. Grissom finally gave up the fight and let the darkness take him.

When he woke up later it took him a while to realise that what happened was not a dream. Especially when he looked down and saw his raised knees in the white casts, He felt the tubes in their respective places and it was slightly uncomfortable. 'how long was this going to last' was his last thought before the door opened once again to let in the five people who made his heart thump loudly in his ears.

"You're awake again, good. It's time to settle you on your chair." He nodded and Grissom felt hands untie him, careful not make a move he waited as they undid the bands around the casts. He was then pulled up by his arms and once again dragged agonizingly slow towards the chair. Grissom was set into the chair and once again he made no attempt to move.

His arms were secured on the armrests of the chair. The neck brace was tied to the head rest and the casts secured to the 'legs' of the chair. The leather strap was fastened around his chest and he cursed silently as it connected with some of the angry welts from the earlier session. The whole time Burgess was staring at Grissom and nodded his approval.

"Good, Grissom you are a fast learner. Now we will leave you for a while and then see you later. We will see about feeding you then." Grissom was then pulled to a corner and the brakes secured. And then he was alone, sitting in a chair, unable to move in the darkness.

'Please, please find me.'

**So? what do you think? pls let me know. lets see if i can make 10 reviews.**


	4. Chapter 4: The team takes action

**Okay, so the reviews have dried up a bit but that's okay. i do know that some of them are not going through, (any one know why it does that?). so here's the next chapter so enjoy.**

**Only the mistakes and evil guys are mine.**

"It's been three days! And we don't have a clue where they took him!" Sara wasn't yelling, she was just voicing her opinion loudly.

The rest of the team grimaced, they knew she was right but they also knew to keep quiet – no one wanted to be on Sara's bad side this early in the day. It was just past three in the morning and the only thing keeping the team awake was coffee and that didn't even help anymore. Catherine took a deep breath, someone had to do it and she might as well plunge in….

"I think we need a break. We're not doing anyone any favours by running on fumes. Let's all go home and sleep a couple of hours and then come back with fresh eyes." She held her breath, waiting for the argument but let it out when everyone nodded.

"Good idea. We can meet for breakfast at the usual place and discuss the game plan from there." Brass added his two cents worth and Catherine gave him a smile to say thanks for backing her up.

With that the team left and within the hour, they were all in their own beds but even though sleep came, it was troubled. Different nightmares haunted their dreams, but one was more troubled than the rest – and in his dream, his mentor blamed him for everything. Nick shot up in his bed, the sheets around him all tangled and wet from his sweat. He couldn't get the sight of the phony doctor and patient out of his mind and kept seeing Grissom lying in the morgue.

'Wherever you are Griss, I will find you.'

CSILV

In the darkened room Grissom had begun to fall asleep in the chair. His back was cramping and his ass was numb. His legs were killing him and his neck was ready to fall off. Besides the aches and pains, he was hungry and thirsty. He hadn't eaten for a long time and his body began to feel it. He was weakening. The door opened up again and three people walked in, waking Grissom right up. The doctor walked to him and he saw the blindfold in his hand – 'What now?' Grissom thought.

"Your new bed is here, but you need a shower first." The doctor had a smile on his face. The strap of leather went around his head once again and Grissom felt his heart sink. He was at the mercy of heartless people and things could only get worse, 'please let my team find me' he prayed for the hundredth time as the wheelchair was pushed forward.

A short while later the chair came to a stop and he heard water running. He was pulled from the chair and he jerked as cold water hit him. He felt himself fell backwards and the laughter from the doctor and the dumber twins made the whole thing worse as he landed in a chair with his feet suspended in the air – was half on his back and the water came to his chest

"You can move to wash yourself. Be careful not to get the casts wet and don't remove the blindfold or the bandage. Nod your head if you understand." Grissom tried to nod and once again he heard laughter. "I'll take that as a yes. Oh and the boxer will stay on, you have five minutes." and just like that he was alone. Grissom felt around and found the soap and a cloth and started washing, using his other senses. Finally he was done, just as the door opened and he was pulled roughly out of the water and pushed back into the wheelchair. He started shivering as he was once again fastened to the chair. He flinched as someone dried him rather harshly over the welts he felt all over his abdomen and upper arms. A strange voice spoke close to his ear,

"That's the second time you moved without permission. The punishment will come when we are back in your prison." The words were cold and emotionless but Grissom could almost see the smirk on the unknown face. He was pushed again and this time he tried to control the shivers going through his ice cold body.

"Look whose back. Our favourite prisoner." Grissom recognised the voice as Sean Burgess. "Your bed is here. We will get you settled for the night but before we go on. I heard that you moved twice without permission? Is that true?" Grissom wasn't sure what he had to do, suddenly the blindfold was pulled off and he came face to face with Burgess who looked really angry. He slapped Grissom through his face and shouted "I asked you a question, you ass!" Grissom slowly nodded his head as much as he could.

"Well then we should punish you. However I think that the punishment will commence in the morning. Right now I think we could all use a little sleep and you need to rebuild your strength." He moved to the side and Grissom's blood ran colder than what it was. The bed stood there in all its glory. Burgess saw his eyes widen at the strange bed in the corner. "Let's get him in there and we can see if it works."

Dumb and dumber pushed Grissom to the bed and started untying him. He kept as still as he possibly could as he was pulled roughly from the wheelchair and practically threw on the bed. They pushed and pulled until he was in the position they wanted him in which was flat on his back with his feet almost touching the ground. The casts fit perfectly. He was once again tied down on the bed but this time there was a strap around his head as well as his chest. He felt something being clipped on his fingers and on his temples but he couldn't really see what it was.

"The bandage will be removed, but make a sound and you will feel it." He left it like that, leaving Grissom to wonder what the hell he was talking about. The doctor cam over with a pair of scissors and cut the bandage off, cutting Grissom's face in the process and he took the first deep breath since this nightmare started. Dumber kicked Grissom's feet and he cried out in pain. Then his world exploded as an electrical current was sent through his body. It only lasted a couple of seconds but it was enough to leave Grissom breathless.

"I warned you." Came the sing song reply from Burgess. "Feed him and then give him some ice chips. We don't want him to die from hunger and dehydration." After a couple minutes of silence, the door opened and closed. The doctor came into view and connected the feeding tube and then moved down to inspect the casts while Grissom felt the liquid slide into his stomach and he thought that it was a really strange feeling but he was glad that the hunger pains was at least diminished. He bit down as the pain shot through his legs as the doctor prodded and pulled. He came into view again and scooped ice cubes into Grissom's mouth and he closed his eyes, relishing in the coolness as it slid down his throat. The doctor unhooked the feeding tube and taped it against his cheek again.

"Sweet dreams, Grissom was the last thing Grissom heard as he fell into a dreamless sleep almost immediately. His last thought before sleep claimed him was that they must have drugged him.

CSILV

As Nick came into the diner across the street from the crime lab, he quickly found the rest of the team sitting around their usual table. They were all staring into their coffee cups not saying much and Nick could see they had about the same amount of sleep he did which wasn't much.

"Hey, guys." He greeted with a forced smile and received some fake smiles in return. Nobody was in the mood to be happy even fake happy was too much to ask for.

Nick sat down and Brass cleared his throat. "Okay, let's see what we know." Catherine produced a mini white board. Nick recognized it – Grissom bought it for Lindsay for her tenth birthday.

"We know that Sean Burgess has Grissom because he was recognized as the ambulance driver from Grissom's house. His prints were also in the ambulance that we found abandoned about 125 km out of Vegas." Catherine wrote everything in point form on the board.

Nick took over when Catherine stopped, "We also found bandages, hair and a swab. The DNA all came back to Grissom. Almost as if they wanted us to know they had him." Catherine added the new information.

Warrick stepped in, "Doctor Witcher really is a doctor, and he is the younger brother of Sean Burgess. They have the same mother but different fathers, hence the different surnames."

Greg was next, "I couldn't find any trace of the centre you called Brass. The phone number traced back to an abandoned building here in Vegas."

Sara looked through her notes, "The ambulance had a GPS tracker but all the info on it was scrambled, Archie is still trying to figure out where it came from and where it went."

Brass was last, "The ambulance was stolen a couple of days ago but it wasn't reported. It came from a private company who is running low on funds and the owner was trying to buy some time before reporting it stolen, something to do with an insurance company paying out more at a certain time."

"So all in all this whole thing was planned from the start. It looks like it was planned very well, so there must be some way of tracking their movements over the last couple of days." Catherine looked at everyone and saw sheer determination in their tired eyes. "Let's see if we can find out where they've been, maybe that will lead us to where they're going." Everybody nodded and their hopelessness was replaced by a slim fighting chance.

"Okay, Brass can you find out more about Burgess and his brother?" the older man nodded, "Nick, look into Burgess' prison mates maybe he told them something." The Texan nodded, "Warrick, you and Greg take the ambulance. I want to know where it was stolen, when and how. Sara, go through the evidence from Grissom's house, maybe day shift over looked something. I will see if I can inspire Archie to finish that GPS a little faster." Everybody nodded and after a minute or two Greg raised his hand almost as if he was still in school. "Yes, Greg?"

"What about Ecklie? He told us to stay away from this."

"Screw Ecklie." Catherine's blue eyes turned into fire as she spoke, "leave Ecklie to me and I will show him where to put his damn protocols."

CSILV

When Grissom opened his eyes he was stiff from lying in the same position but couldn't move. Unfortunately he forgot about the no sound deal and groaned loudly as his back spasmed. The electrical charge that went through his body threw his brain into complete confusion.

"You're awake." Just an emotionless statement. The doctor hooked up the feeding tube again and five minutes later took it off without saying a word. He scooped some ice chips into his mouth and moved to undo the restraints around the casts and then the rest. Grissom was keeping still, not moving and making no sounds. Just then Burgess walked in and smiled down at Grissom.

"We decided to take you out for a little air today. That will also be your punishment. Bruno, get him in the chair and let's take him outside. Mickey fix him before he goes out. Same rules apply Mr Grissom." He turned around and left.

The doctor took something that looked like a mouth guard and put it in Grissom's mouth. He then put tape on the edges to keep it in place. He walked out of sight again and came back with gauze which he then placed on Grissom's eyes and taped them shut as well. Once again unable to talk or see Grissom felt the familiar feeling of despair creep up in him.

Dumber or rather Bruno, pulled him up and dragged him to the chair, fastened him in and pushed him forward. Grissom felt the sun and the cool morning air blow over his exposed skin. He knew it was going to get hot as it always did in the desert, he just hoped that they didn't leave him there the whole day. He felt something being taped to his lower lip just under the thing that kept his mouth open.

"Don't worry, nothing will fly into your mouth and the gauze here is just to make sure you don't drool too much." The doctor slapped him on his cheek and fastened the brakes on the wheelchair. "See you in a couple of hours."

Grissom's heart stopped a second, hours? He'll be toast by then, literally. The sun was already getting hotter, and Grissom tried to swallow which he obviously couldn't do. He was a sitting duck about to be roasted.

**Please review! i don't want to beg, but pls pls pls pls pls pls review. wait i just begged didn't i? till next time - CSIflea**


	5. Chapter 5:Good ol' Dr Witcher

**wow, i am on a roll! 4 chapters in 4 days! thanks for all the nice reviews i got. the number of readers is good so i will stop complaining about the reviews - hehe.**

**Don't own them, still don't like Ecklie, still like Grissom (i know it doesn't look like it) still own the mistakes and bad guys.**

While the team in Vegas went about their business, their boss, mentor and friend were fighting a losing battle. It felt like forever since he was parked here in the sun and his skin felt tight and hot. He knew it was sunburn and he also knew what could happen if it got too bad. He had seen a lot of people die of heat exhaustion, he had worked on some of those cases and he had seen what their insides looked like. And he was going to end up like that. He was going to end up on Doc Robbins' slab. He could almost see the team working his crime scene, saw how they planned his funeral and buried him…..he shook his head, he was getting delirious – one of the first signs of heat exhaustion. No, he has to be positive, his team will find him, and they just have to.

"Having fun yet, Grissom?" he jumped slightly as Sean Burgess spoke close to his ear, he hadn't even heard him walk up. "Only five minutes to go, then on to the next session of your punishment. You moved twice yesterday, remember? Now I saw you move twice today as well but I'm going to let that slide because I want you alive, to suffer every minute you are here." Grissom felt the chair move and was glad to be out of the hot son but dreaded going in. he hurt everywhere, he couldn't feel his backside, his legs were burning and his throat was dry.

A blurry version of the doctor was the first thing he saw when opened his eyes for the fist time that day. As he took the thing out of his mouth, his jaw was tight and his mouth was as dry as the desert.

"Looking good for someone who has been in the desert for five hours. But this afternoon it's time for some TLC. But before that let's get you re-hydrated shall we?" he wheeled him over to the bed and Grissom's heart sank. Any movement hurt like hell and he was far from ready for it but to his unspeakable relief the doctor just hooked up the damn thing and pressed the button. Grissom felt the liquid flow down his raw throat and it burned. He felt tears form in his eyes and spill over. It just hurt too much. For one or another reason the doctor walked out and left him alone. The machine was off and Grissom couldn't help but wonder if the doctor was trying to give him privacy. After a couple of minutes Grissom has composed himself enough to open his eyes and blink away the last reaming tears.

The door opened again and this time the doctor put some ice chips into Grissom's mouth and he closed his eyes, savouring the coolness. As he opened his eyes again he saw the doctor smiling at him.

"Good eh?" Grissom frowned and nodded. "It almost over, just hang on." He whispered in Grissom's ear and the shock could be seen in Grissom's eyes. The doctor just smiled and patted him on his shoulder. He flinched involuntarily as the doctor touched his sunburnt skin. The doctor looked at him and concern showed in his eyes. 'What the hell? What is this guy playing at?' Grissom's mind was running a million miles an hour. The doctor just turned around and left, leaving Grissom to his confused thoughts.

A good while later the door opened and Grissom could see the group walk in and he didn't like the looks on their faces.

"Time for some TLC Mr Grissom." Burgess nodded at the doctor and he came and removed the tube out of his nose, next was the neck brace and Grissom felt his head fall forward but he managed to bring it up again. It was just in time to see the fist coming towards his face. He felt his head snap to the left, and blow after blow rain on him. His face, his torso and shoulders all took hits, finally it stopped but Grissom struggled to breathe, he was heaving and had an odd tingling sensation in his neck. He felt himself being dragged from the chair and tied to the bed. There was a sharp pain in his chest and his breathing eased a little but it still hurt. His whole body hurt.

"See you tomorrow Grissom." Burgess' voice sounded as if he was speaking in a tunnel and Grissom closed his eyes. He must have passed out because when he opened his eyes again he saw the doctor look down at him with a strange expression on his face.

"How's the breathing?"

"Hurts" was all that he could get out and the doctor nodded.

"It should be better; I think one of your ribs nicked your lungs.

Grissom swallowed even though it still hurt, but he had to know, "Why?" his voice was hoarse from lack of use.

"Because it has gone too far and no one deserves to suffer like this. Not for doing their job. I have to go along with them otherwise I will end up dead so I hope that you can forgive me."

"Thank you." Grissom was fading fast; he could feel the darkness settling around him, ready to take him into free oblivion.

"I want to call someone, to help you. Who should I call?"

Grissom's mind was too far gone to understand what the doctor asked and in his confused mind's eye, he saw his team, his children. He remembered that he had promised Nick dinner on his birthday, when was that?

"Nick, I'm sorry." The doctor saw that Grissom was confused and decided to call the crime lab and just ask for this Nick – he just hoped that there weren't more than one Nick. Before he left he looked over the bruised and bloody face of the man lying on the bed. He made a split second decision and injected a painkiller into the man's arm.

'Hold on Grissom, just please hold on.'

CSILV

The team met each other in the break room. After running around the whole day Greg took it on himself to make sure everyone had a cup of coffee in front of them. Catherine came in carrying the whiteboard she wrote on this morning and placed it in front of the others on a small cupboard.

"Okay guys; let's see what we found out today."

"I found that Sean Burgess and Michael 'Mickey' Witcher are brothers. But Mickey didn't have anything to do with him until about two years ago when Sean phoned him up and started speaking to him. It was part of the 'make peace with family' campaign that they are running."

"Make peace with family?"

"Yeah, it's a campaign that tries to get prisoners to make peace with families that they haven't spoken to in a long time. Anyway, he got to his brother and they re-united. Mickey was a doctor here in Las Vegas at Desert Palms but quit unexpectedly a couple of weeks ago. He didn't leave any indication of where he was going or what he was going to do. I went to his apartment but there was no answer and mail was piling up. So I think it was safe to say that he hasn't been home in a while."

Catherine added to her notes on the whiteboard and turned to face the group before she spoke, "Archie was able to trace the whereabouts of the stolen ambulance at least two days before your meeting at the roadblock, and he got us an address of a warehouse. Greg and I went over the place and found some epithelials on a table that had restraints on it, as well as some hair fibres. We are just waiting for the results to come back."

"Okay, the owner of the ambulance, a Mr Bruno Smallding, said that his brother was driving from the hospital when he was hijacked. It happened the day before Grissom disappeared. We know it was the same ambulance because Archie confirmed that it was definitely at Grissom's house."

"Also, Mr Smallding said that nothing was missing from the ambulance. He took an inventory after we processed it so I think it's safe to assume the people who stole it wanted to use it as it was."

Warrick passed photos of the brothers to Catherine who taped it to the board.

"Son of a bitch!" Brass' exclamation made everybody jump. But he just turned to Nick and asked, "Do you recognise that guy?" pointing to the man in the photo. Nick took a closer look and hung his head.

"Nicky? Brass?"

"He was the driver, damnit! He drove the ambulance at the roadblock."

The room was shocked into silence. But before anybody could say anything, Judy the receptionist looked around the door of the break room. "Sorry to bother guys but Nick there's someone on the phone for you. He says it's urgent." Nick got up and walked after Judy. Brass pulled out his phone and called dispatch.

"This is Captain Brass; I want you to put out an APB out on Bruno and Trevor Smallding. Yeah, thanks." He turned to the rest of the group, "I'm going to see if I can get a judge to give me a warrant for them. I'll be back soon." And with that he left.

"Wonder what Nicks phone call was about?"

CSILV

Nick took the phone and said, "Nick Stokes."

"Do you know Grissom?" the voice was soft, almost as if the man was whispering but he also sounded a bit unsure.

"Who is this?"

"Damnit, do you know him or not?" the voice was angry now.

"Yes, I do. Now who are you?"

"Mickey Witcher. I need you to save him or my ass of a brother will kill him." To say Nick was shocked was an understatement; he felt the blood leave his face. He pulled Judy's notepad and wrote to her to get Archie to trace the call.

"Ok Dr Witcher. Where is your brother keeping him?" His voice broke, he couldn't help it. Knowing they were close to finding Grissom was just too much. Luckily Judy nodded and ran for the AV lab. This in turn brought a confused Catherine, Greg, Sara and Warrick out of the break room.

"It's an old hospital about 100 km out of Vegas. They are keeping him in a room in the Eastern wing. When you come make sure there is an ambulance with you. I will be here so that I can help." This shocked Nick even more.

"Forgive me for asking, but why are you helping him after you had a hand in his kidnapping?"

"Stop fucking around with questions you can ask me when you see me. Get your people together and hurry up. My brother was planning on hurting him even more in an hour's time so hurry."

The phone went dead just as Judy came running back to say that Archie found the place. Without a word to the rest of the team, Nick ran down the hall to the AV lab to get the destination from Archie all the while getting Brass on the phone.

"Brass." Came the rough reply.

"I found him, he's being held at an abandoned hospital about 100 km out of Vegas."

"OK, get the guys together and let's go. Ill phone dispatch for the ambulance and back up."

Nick put his phone back in his pocket and turned to the rest of the team.

"We found him, let's go. I'll explain in the car." No more than that was needed as they all ran for the Denali standing in Nick's spot.

Five sets of prayers went up as they raced towards Grissom hoping to reach him in time.

CSILV

Grissom opened his eyes or one of them rather. Everything was blurry and he saw a figure standing next to the bed. He tried to open his mouth but found that his jaw didn't want to co-operate. He felt a sharp pain on one of his arms, and again on his shoulder. The pain repeated itself a couple of times and he felt his life force flowing over the cuts that Sean Burgess was making all over his body.

"It's not deep enough to hurt you but the knife is dirty enough to kill you slower than the wounds will." He held up a dirty and rusted knife for Grissom to see. He wanted to beg him to stop but he couldn't open his mouth. Instead he shook his head from side to side which hurt even more. His whole body was numb and he could feel the mother of all headaches making it at home behind his eyes. Just then an amazing feeling of relief washed over him as he heard a familiar voice shout a familiar phrase. The most beautiful expression crossed Burgess' face – shock, anger but most of all defeat. He saw the knife rose above his stomach and also as it came down but it never reached its destination as a gunshot rang out and Burgess fell to the ground. Grissom gave over to the land of oblivion and his world went black once again.

He heard Brass shout, "LVPD, Freeze."

CSILV

**That's it for now - review if you want to i would like to know what you think. till next time - CSIflea**


	6. Chapter 6: The unexpected foe

**Heya all my lovely readers! Missed me? Well I'm back and I really hope you enjoy this chapter. Some of you might hate me after this but bear in mind that I don't plan on making this a deathfic (yet). Also thanks to all the reviews, readers, favs and followers. You guys make writing fun.**

**Please remember that I don't own any of the show characters, and if I did, Grissom would still be there and Ecklie would be dead instead of Warrick.**

Brass fired without hesitation when he saw what Burgess was about to do and he just couldn't lose Grissom right after he found him. He waited only seconds after the man fell to the floor before running to his friend on the bed. He looked over the features but they were almost unrecognizable. He saw the bruises, the blood now pouring out from multiple shallow cuts, Grissom's ribs throwing uneven bumps over his torso amongst the bruises covering his friend's body. His gaze travelled down to the knees hanging of the bed and the bluish tint made him shudder. He moved down to get a better look and saw the casts and the blue toes sticking out. Brass felt a lump in his throat and he realized all the pain his friend must be in. he donned on latex gloves and moved to start untying his friend. As he came to the strap around his head he was surprised to see those blue eyes looking up at him.

"Hey, Gil." He said softly, he bent close to his friends face to hear what he was saying as he saw the lips move but couldn't hear anything else.

"You found me." It was spoken so softly but relief was evident in the voice. Brass looked into the eyes but the sparkle that was there was gone; instead they were dulled with pain. Just then Brass heard other cars pull up and car doors slam. The doctor came running in followed by paramedics.

"How long has he been awake?" He asked Brass.

"He woke up about five minutes ago, but hasn't said much." Brass saw the doctor nod and watched him as he moved to one of the tables and returned with a small saw. Brass raised his gun but the doctor ignored him and started sawing at the casts while the medics worked to stop the bleeding from the multiple cuts.

"We have to get this off, I don't think it was set properly." He stopped working when one of the medics called him over.

"He stopped breathing doctor!"

"We have to intubate." He replied and dropped the saw. He ran to the head of the bed and started calling for things he might need. Only seconds later the tube was in and Grissom was breathing thanks to a ventilator that stood next to the bed. The medics could only stare in surprise at the medical equipment around the bed, but recovered quickly by starting to bandage the cuts while the doctor finished with casts.

When they were finished, one went to fetch a stretcher while the other went to help Witcher... minutes later the casts were off and gasps could be heard from the door. All the while Brass had been standing there watching as strangers worked on his friend. He was a living, breathing statue. Shock and fear paralyzing him to the point where he was sure that this was a nightmare and he was going to wake up soon. However when he heard the sounds behind him, he turned to see five people standing there, with red-rimmed eyes staring at their boss and mentor lying on the bed with a machine breathing for him.

"He will be fine." Brass could hear the lie in his own voice as it broke.

"We need help to transfer him to the gurney." One of the medics spoke as he held a backboard in his hand. All of them stepped forward. Brass, Nick and Warrick reached them first and within minutes, Grissom was on a gurney with a medic making sure he kept breathing. Brass got into the ambulance with the medics as they rushed off.

CSILV

Catherine was staring at the racing ambulance, thinking that in a matter of a week the whole team has lost their rock and now she had to step up and bat. Knowing what to do is one thing, processing the crime scene where their mentor, friend and secret crush was brutally tortured was an entire different thing. Steeling herself to find four fearful, tear stained but determined people in front of her.

"Okay, guys. Let's get this done and over with. Nick, you and Warrick take the main room. Sara take the bathroom. Greg, you and i will take the other room."

The uni's already secured the perimeter and they were good to go and barely five minutes after they started, a car pulled up. Catherine looked out the window and saw Ecklie walk towards the building. Catching the team's eye as she walked passed them to meet the rat faced man, she got her thoughts ready. She was going to enjoy this.

"Willows."

"Ecklie."

"You know you can't do this right? You cannot process the scene, just like you couldn't process Grissom's house."

"With all due respect Ecklie, but this team achieved more in a shorter time than the day shift team did in all the time they had the case."

"That doesn't matter, Catherine and you know it."

"Screw you and the damn protocols. This is Grissom, one of our own and now you want to come and stand here at the same place where he almost died and preach to me?" Her voice had risen to a shout and her hands were balled into fists at her side.

"Willows….." Ecklie began, his voice also rising but he was cut off by Catherine.

"Where is the supposed team you wanted to take over? This team are almost done already and you want to tell me we can't do our jobs because Grissom is the victim here? You didn't see him, Ecklie. His team did and we owe it to him!" Catherine's eyes were blazing.

"I think you should leave before I set those guys on you." The quiet voice of Sofia came from behind him. He spun around and saw her pointing towards the building. He looked towards where she was pointing and froze. Grissom's team was standing there with their arms folded over their chests and their faces told him what they were thinking. That was not what made his blood freeze, it was the uniformed officers standing next to the team in similar positions, and some had even taken the liberty to hold their batons in their hands ready to take action.

"I will let this slide this time Willows, but you will not get away with the way you are speaking to me. I am in charge."

"Read my lips, Ecklie. I DON'T CARE." With that she turned her back on the piece of slime and walked towards the team and into the building to finish her job.

Ecklie turned and walked past Sofia and got into his car. Sofia looked after the car as it sped away.

"I would really love to slap that idiot." She muttered under her breath as she went to check on her favourite team.

CSILV

"Damn them!" he slammed his hands on the steering wheel in front of him. He was pissed off. No one gets away with treating him like that; it was time to speed up his plan. Too bad that bastard turned soft and his brother was killed. No worries he had other people he could get to get rid of that asshole. He pissed off enough people. Conrad Ecklie smiled as he thought of the next person on his list.

"Grissom you will pay for all these years I had to travel in your shadow and now you will be gone and I can get to the sunlight!"

He stepped on the gas heading for Vegas and a brighter future.

CSILV

AS the ambulance stopped at Desert Palms, the doors already open and waiting, the medics got out and rushed Grissom out to the ER. Brass trailing behind them but as predicted he was stopped by a nurse. He stood staring at the doors where his best friend disappeared into together with the brother of the man who wanted to kill Grissom. Brass rubbed a hand over his face as he made his way to the waiting room, expecting it to be empty.

"I got you some coffee." The voice of Al Robbins startled him. He looked into the blue eyes of the only other friend Grissom ever socialises with.

"Thanks." Brass accepted the cup with a grateful smile and sat down next to the medical examiner.

"You ok?" the question was soft, almost as if the other man knew the answer but wanted to make sure.

"I don't know, Al." Brass sighed, no use in lying. The men knew each other too well for that.

"I saw him as they went past me. He wasn't looking too good." The doctor never regretted studying medicine until that particular time as one of his oldest friend was wheeled past him and his brain automatically started listing injuries.

"He will be fine. He is strong." Brass said it more to himself than for anybody else. He needed to make sure that he believed it before he could be strong for anybody else.

"How is the team taking it?" even though he knew the answer, Al just had to ask.

"Nicky is taking it harder than anyone else. Catherine tries to keep them together but she is also just barely holding on. Sara hasn't said much and we all know what that means." He took a deep breath as he remembered the rant the other day, "Warrick? He is just plain angry and Greg wants to find these bastards and make them disappear." He chuckled remembering Greg's offer to call in a distant cousin who apparently are connected to the mafia.

"He taught them well." Al shook his head, "I don't know what they will do without him."

"I'm hoping we don't have to find out anytime soon."

"Where are they just so by the way?"

Brass took a deep breath, "At the crime scene." The words left a bitter taste in his mouth, especially knowing that it was his best friend's crime scene.

"Doesn't Ecklie have a problem with that?" Al was frowning, thinking that a piece of rubbish like Ecklie would try to take over to get the publicity.

"With the team pit bull there? Good luck to him." This brought a smile to both the men sitting in the room.

"yeah, Catherine will take him" Al commented.

And with that, silence fell into the room. They waited.

And waited

And waited

After about two hours of mind blowing waiting, a doctor in blue surgical scrubs walked into the room with an expressionless face.

"Family of Gil Grissom?"

**Any ideas? Thoughts? Let me know, till next time, CSIflea.**


	7. Chapter 7: Nick's timely visit

**Heya guys, sorry for the long wait, but RL had me in a chokehold. I hope this chapter is worth the wait. I want to thank my extremely awesome beta, C. Nichole for the great job she's doing, as well as my cousin who listens to my ramblings while working on new chapters; thanks Nooi!**

**Anyway, I don't own the characters, I just play with them, hurt them, fix them, maybe hurt them some more and then give them back – good as new. Enjoy.**

Brass and Al stood up simultaneously and met the doctor halfway into the waiting room.

"My name is Dr Darian; I am the lead physician on Dr Grissom's case." He extended his hand to Brass.

"I'm Captain James Brass and this is Dr Al Robbins. I hold Grissom's medical proxy." Dr Darian nodded and motioned for the other men to sit down.

"I don't know where to begin, your friend suffered a lot of injuries and we had to go into surgery quickly. Internally he had some damage, but fortunately we were able to stop the bleeders and repair the broken ribs. One of his ribs did nick a lung, but it wasn't serious and we fixed it quickly." The doctor stopped and took a deep breath before continuing, "the cuts he sustained were not too deep, but unfortunately one or too might become infected. The paramedic informed me that the knife used was rusted, so we will be keeping an eye on that." The doctor went quiet again. Brass and Al shared a look and Al took it upon himself to ask the dreaded question.

"What about his legs?" His voice was quiet and he kept his eyes on the floor. Brass put his hand on the older man's shoulder and squeezed.

"His legs are a mess. We had to re-break them, but the swelling made casting impossible. We added external fixators to make sure the bones heal the way they are supposed to."

"Will he be able to walk again?" Brass asked looking at the doctor with fear in his eyes.

"I am confident that he will regain full mobility in both legs, barring any complication. He will, however, need extensive physical therapy."

"Can we….." Brass cleared his throat, "can we see him?"

"He's in recovery now and will be moved to ICU in an hour or so. We are keeping him sedated for a while, but I will allow you ten minutes." The doctor got up to leave, "A nurse will come to get you when he is ready."

"Thank you, doctor." The Doctor shook hands with the two friends and turned to leave. At the door he almost collided with the team as they entered.

"Oh, excuse me," Dr Darian said as he moved past the group, heading for the elevators.

Brass took a deep breath and allowed his knees to buckle as he sat down heavily on the uncomfortable couch, with his head in his hands. This time it was Al that supported him with a hand on his shoulder.

"Was that Gil's doctor?" Catherine asked with a tremble in her voice.

"Yeah," Al answered and proceeded to give the team an abbreviated version of what the doctor told them. He looked at each of them as they sat around the waiting room.

Catherine's blue eyes were burning, showing the anger she felt. Greg had a faraway look on his face, almost like he was trying to figure out how they came to be there. Warrick was studying his hands; Al had seen that look before, when the younger man was busy working out a piece of evidence. Sara was pacing, her face sad; she was never able to deal well with one of her team getting hurt or with feeling helpless. Nick had a blank expression on his face and was looking out the window. This made Al worry a bit as Nick was never expressionless – his facial features always gave his feelings away. They heard a throat clearing from the door and saw a petite nurse standing there.

"Captain Brass?" she looked around, Brass stood up and walked towards her, "you can see Mr Grissom for ten minutes. Please follow me." The captain nodded and followed her silently.

"Give him our love," Catherine said just before he left and he lifted a hand, showing he heard her.

Silence once again reigned in the waiting room, the worried people each busy with their own sad thoughts.

CSILV

Brass' mind was trying to prepare him for seeing his best friend in the ICU room. He was seeing all the victims he had seen during his long time in the LVPD, and all the soldiers during his time as a Marine. No matter how much he tried to steel himself, his heart still stopped as he saw Grissom in front of him. The nurse must have realised that he was shocked as she patted his arm before she left.

"Damn Gil!" he said moving towards his friend. He sat down in the chair next to the bed and took the limp hand in his stronger one. His eyes running over his unconscious friend- the ventilator in his mouth, the bandages covering the multiple cuts over his arms and torso, the external fixators under the thin hospital sheet, but the most frightening was the red tint to his friend's skin. He jumped as he heard a knock at the door. The doctor walked over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"The ventilator is just a precaution," the doctor said, "as soon as I'm happy with his breathing, I'll take it out."

"What is the redness on his skin?" Brass spoke without looking away from Grissom's pale face.

"Sunburn, but it's not too serious." The doctor exhaled deeply, "it seems they had him outside for a while and he was semi-protected at least. How, I don't know." Dr Darian took Grissom's chart and looked it over. "Captain Brass, he is fighting and he is strong for his age. In a day or two we'll start weaning him off the sedation and then we'll take it from there. One day at a time." He patted Brass' shoulder and left the captain with his best friend.

After a minute of silence, only broken by the hiss of the ventilator, Brass took a deep breath, stood up and leaned down to speak in his friend's ear,

"I'm so sorry, Gil." He gave the limp hand one last squeeze and then left, leaving the room with a nagging feeling that this was not over.

The waiting room was eerily quiet as the five CSIs and one ME sat entangled in their own thoughts. They looked up as Brass came into the room. He went to sit down next to Al, meeting the eyes of each and every person in the room.

"Ok people, right now Gil's in bad shape, but he's fighting. The doctors are keeping him sedated until tomorrow to give his body a head-start with the healing. He's on a ventilator, but only as a precaution. It's going to take a while to heal and for him to fully recover. Now I don't know about you, but I want to know what the hell happened in that damn room." He took a deep breath and looked up from his hands.

"I agree," Catherine spoke up, "we need to know what that bastard did to Grissom." Sara and Greg nodded their agreement and Warrick voiced a: "damn straight." Al said a quiet, "good idea." Only Nick kept quiet and this worried Al a bit; he went over to the younger man and touched his arm to get his attention, the red rimmed eyes and wet face that looked up at Al scared him even more.

"Nick?" Al spoke softly and was relieved to see that everyone else was going on with their own thing, not paying attention to the two men.

"I'm sorry that guy is dead." Nick's hoarse voice betrayed the emotion the younger man felt.

"What? Why?" Al couldn't keep the surprise out of his voice. The Texan was usually calmer than this.

"I wanted to kill him myself." Before Al could respond to the simple statement, Nick got up and walked out the door. That the group heard the statement was visible in the shocked expressions and the open mouths staring after the young man.

"He needs to work through this on his own," Brass said with a sad shake of his head. Before anybody else could say anything, Ecklie walked in and started speaking,

"We have work to do. Now that Grissom is back and alive, you all need to get back to work." He looked down at the paper in his hands, not seeing the infuriated glances the team sent each other.

"Catherine, you and Warrick have a dead body in a dumpster behind the Bellagio. Vartann is meeting you there." He handed her the slip, which she tore out of his hand. Warrick followed Catherine as she stormed out of the waiting room.

Ecklie smiled.

"Sara, Greg and Nick have a double homicide on the strip." He looked up suddenly realizing that Nick wasn't in the room, "Where is Stokes?"

"He went home for a shower," Sara piped up before anyone could say anything else, "we'll just head down and start processing. I'll call him on our way there. Come on Greg." With that Sara and Greg left, albeit reluctantly.

"Looks like you will need to get back to work too, Doctor Robbins. Brass, I need your final report on Grissom's case so we can close it." Ecklie kept right on speaking, not giving either man a chance to talk. "Anyway, I need to get back to the lab; people have been really slacking off these last few days."

Conrad Ecklie turned around and left, leaving two surprised men staring after him. Al was the first to recover and turned to Brass,

"You know, I am no CSI, but I have been friends with Gil Grissom for over twenty years and some of his skills might have rubbed off. I know when something isn't right." He looked at Brass, who just nodded.

"He was a little too eager to get us back to work and close Gil's case wasn't he?" Brass scratched his head thoughtfully, "I always knew those two didn't get along, but this is just a little too much. Gil's team deserved a couple of days off. You're right Al, something is off and it's not Gil's cooking." The older man laughed at the inside joke and turned to leave.

"Keep me up to date, will you Jim? As you heard I've also got some work to do." Brass nodded and pulled out his phone. It was time to call in a favour.

Nick came out of the bathroom. He still couldn't shake this feeling that he could have prevented Grissom from going through the terrible ordeal. He kept going over everything in his mind to see where they missed a step or overlooked something. As he came into the waiting room he saw it was empty, but before he could call anyone, he received a text from Sara.

'_Got a scene on the strip. Two DBs. Come only when you're ready._

_Greg and I can handle if you want.'_

"Wow, when did Sara become the responsible one?" he said to himself out loud. Nick shook his head and headed off in the direction of Grissom's room. He didn't want to go in, but he needed to see him alive for himself. He wasn't looking too good in that damn room earlier.

Nick came to a dead stop when he saw that there was a doctor in surgical scrubs busy looking Grissom over. He stood at the window looking into the room. From his point of view he could see the bedding over the external fixators. One of Grissom's hands came into view as the doctor moved to inject something into Grissom's IV. Those hands, Nick has seen those hands expertly handle evidence and do tests. He was trained by those hands. He loved the unconscious man like a father; he was what Nick wanted to be like later in his career. Nick silently smiled at the idea of what Grissom would do if he were to find out; Nick was studying bugs in his spare time, but knowing Grissom- he probably already knew. The doctor finished and left the room, not even sparing a glance in Nick's direction.

"That was weird." Nick said softly as he stole into the room. He sat down and noticed the syringe still lying on the counter. He grabbed the extra pair of latex gloves he still had in his pocket from the scene and picked it up slowly. This was definitely not right. He felt a hand grab him and looked down into to Grissom's blue eyes. They were blinking furiously.

"Griss, what's wrong?" Nick realised that it was a stupid thing to ask, seeing that Grissom couldn't answer, but the injured man was speaking volumes with his eyes. Grissom kept looking at the syringe and back to Nick, who suddenly knew why things didn't feel right. Doctors wear white coats, not surgical scrubs with masks. He squeezed Grissom's hand and pressed the call button. Alarms went off and Grissom started convulsing violently.

Two nurses came running into the room followed by the doctor who looked at Nick questioningly.

"Someone injected him with this. He was awake a minute ago and then…." Nick hurriedly told the doctor, who rushed over to the bed. A single screech filled the air as the heart monitor flat lined.

**Thoughts? Reviews? This is me running away now… CSIflea.**


	8. Chapter 8: The Big reveal

**Heya, I'm back. I have to apologize for this chapter taking so long, but I had a bad case of writer's block. Anyway, here is the next chapter and I hope it was worth the wait. Thanks to my amazing beta, C. Nicole. Also, a BIG thanks to everybody that reviewed the last chapter.**

Nick watched in horror as Grissom's body arched off the table once, twice- a third time, but the sound continued. The heart monitor just kept flat-lining.

"One last time; clear!" the doctor shouted and Nick felt his heart skip a beat. The most beautiful noise rang through the air as the heart monitor started beating again.

"He's back." There was a collective sigh around the room; the doctor turned to one of the nurses, "Get this syringe to the lab," he turned to another, "get a saline drip going so we can flush whatever drug it was out of his system."

"Will he…..will he be alright, doctor?" Nick asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

"We won't know until he wakes up, which is why I'm going to hold off on the sedation." He fell silent and started scribbling notes in a folder.

"Can I stay with him?" Nick asked looking at the silent figure off his boss and mentor lying on the bed. The ventilator was gone at least.

"Well, seeing as someone tried to kill him not five minutes ago, I would say yes, but we also need someone to call us when he wakes up. Another trauma case was just brought in and things are a little chaotic." The doctor smiled and patted Nick on the shoulder before he left.

Nick sat down next to the bed and carefully took Grissom's hand in his own.

"Hey, Griss, it's Nick. Uhm, I don't know if you can hear me, but I really need you to be okay and wake up please. The lab needs you and I'm sure that Sara needs you as well." Nick chuckled at his own joke, "I don't know what's going on- why someone wants to kill you so bad. I thought we had the bastard, but apparently not. The uhm, the rest of the team is out working a sudden crime spree; Ecklie got all of them out of here pretty quick. I really would like to find out what he would do with some cockroaches in his desk. Think you could borrow me some?" he looked at Grissom's face and waited for a response that didn't come. The room once again fell silent until Nick's phone went off, signalling a text. He took it out and smiled when he saw it was from Sara,

'_Get lost, Nicky? We're almost done, meet you at the lab?'_

Nick was surprised to see that he had been sitting there for almost three hours; he took a deep breath and texted back:

_ hospital wit Gris. Another hit. Waiting for him to wake up. Can u handle this without me?_

He switched his phone to silent mode expecting a return text. Not a minute later his phone vibrated, Sara again,

_When? Did you call Brass? Stay there, we can handle._

Nick completely forgot to call Brass. He got up to go and call him when he felt pressure on his hand.

"Grissom?" he asked, leaning closer to his injured boss, "Grissom, can you hear me?"

"Nick?" came a soft croak from the bed. Nick laughed in relief and reached for the call button.

"Yeah, Gris, it's me. The Doctor's on his way, can you stay awake for me?"

A small nod, "Water?" At the request, Nick grabbed a few ice chips and scooped them into his mouth, just as the doctor came into the room.

"Good; Mr Grissom, I see you're awake." He took out his penlight to do some tests, "Mr Stokes, can you please wait outside."

"Yeah, sure. Gris, I'll be back soon." He turned to leave, but Grissom grabbed his hand with unbelievable strength.

"No, please….stay," he looked at Nick pleadingly.

Nick looked at the doctor, who nodded.

"Ok, Gris, I'm right here." 

"Mr Grissom, can you follow the light?" Grissom eyes followed the light.

"What year is it?"

"2012"

"Where are you?"

"Hospital- Las Vegas, Nevada." The doctor chuckled,

"Well, you've answered my next questions without me asking them. Everything seems fine, I don't see any problems. The drug that was injected was a batch of Heroine, but fortunately the person was either not very smart or didn't have any idea of what he was doing, because it was just enough to give us a fright, but no permanent damage." Nick breathed a sigh of relief, "your other injuries, though extensive, are not too serious. With time, everything will heal perfectly fine. Some of the cuts showed some signs of infection, but we managed to nip it in the bud, so to speak. Also one of your ribs nicked a lung, but your breathing seems to have improved, so as long as you tell me the minute you start having problems breathing, it's looking good. Any questions?"

"My legs?" Grissom's voice was still hoarse and Nick felt his hand being pulled in a death grip at the question, a testament of how scared Grissom was of the outcome.

"Both your legs were broken badly and were too swollen to put them in casts; in a few days' time we will cast them, which will help them to heal slightly faster. You are, however, still looking at six to eight weeks before you can start physical therapy and then another three or four weeks before you'll be cleared for field work."

Grissom sighed and Nick could see how much pain the action caused. He could see his mentor struggling with his emotions and decided it was time to jump in,

"Thank you doctor, if we have any more questions we'll call you." He shook the doctor's hand and then the doctor left. Nick retook his spot next to the bed and looked at Grissom, who was studying the ceiling with interest.

"You want to talk about it?" Nick asked quietly.

"I don't remember much," Grissom replied, his voice soft, barely a whisper.

"Well, I have to apologize, Griss." Nick's words brought Grissom's gaze down, where it met the top of Nick's bowed head.

"Why?"

"I let them take you, I didn't find you sooner." Nick broke off as sobs was threatening to take over.

"It wasn't your fault, Nicky. Burgess was planning this for months and he was going to take me whether you stopped him that day or not. If you were there, he would have killed you anyways. If anything, I should have told you the minute Ecklie told me."

"When did he tell you?" Warning bells went off like crazy in Nick's mind.

"Last week. Don't remember what day exactly." Grissom saw Nick's face – his expression perfectly thunderous, "Why?"

"Ecklie said you didn't know. Sean Burgess only escaped out of prison two days before you disappeared. There is no way that he knew last week already."

"Unless…" Grissom started, but was cut off by a cold voice from the doorway.

"Unless he knew what was happening." A sneer on the man's face, "I am _so_ glad you are awake, Grissom that will make this so much more fun," Ecklie said as he came in and shut the door.

CSILV

At the lab, Sara walked into a very worried looking Catherine coming out of the display room.

"Cath, what's wrong?"

"My DB, it's Doctor Witcher." Sara could only stare at her in utter amazement.

"What? Are you sure?" But before Catherine could answer, they heard Brass' loud voice from the end of the hall.

"Sara, I'm glad to see you. I just spoke to Doc Robbins and he showed me your vics. Funny thing is, they are Bruno Smallding and his brother."

"Wait. What?" Warrick joined the small group in the passage.

"Why don't we go into the display room and look at things again- new eyes might help," Brass suggested, "I'll call Al, Sara bring Greg in here as well." She nodded and went in search for the youngest member of the graveyard shift. Nobody seemed to notice Nick's absence.

A little while later, everyone was gathered around the table in the display room.

"Ok, Cath, what did you find?" Brass started them off, hoping to the heavens above that the feeling in his gut was wrong.

"Well, the DB we went to was Dr Witcher. There was little to no evidence around his body. He was shot with a police issue .45mm. Weird part is that we didn't find any trace whatsoever. Nothing."

Warrick took over, "His pockets were empty save for a few dollar bills, but nothing substantial. Watch, wallet and cell phone, all gone."

Brass scratched his head thoughtfully and said, "Someone knew what they were doing." Everybody around the table nodded in agreement.

"Our crime scene was almost unnaturally unhelpful. Most of the trace evidence we did get was contaminated because it was from the dumpster," Sara said.

Doc Robbins looked at his notes, "OK, Dr Witcher had no defensive wounds, but the Smallding brothers did. It looks like the older brother, uhm Bruno fought back at who ever tried to kill him. He was not successful, unfortunately. His younger brother, uhm Cassius looked like he took a hit in the stomach, but very little defensive wounds. He was also killed first."

Brass took a deep breath, "Does anybody think this is weird? I mean, all of these guys are involved in Grissom's kidnapping and when we find him, they all end up dead? We didn't find any evidence that could help so, we are either dealing with a very smart killer or …"

"A cop?" They turned around to see Sofia standing in the doorway. She smiled at the confused faces around the table, "Think about it, it makes sense. All the evidence you collected was either tainted or untraceable. Nothing on the dead guys can help us find whoever did it. How many people in this room can kill without leaving so much as a trace of evidence?" The CSIs all put up their hands.

"That means that it's most likely someone with crime scene knowledge," Catherine said.

"Alright, so who hates Gris so much that he or she would kill the people who kidnapped him?" Warrick was still sceptical, but Greg jumped in,

"Maybe they were cleaning house?" Five confused faces looked at him, "No, listen, if they killed them because they kidnapped Grissom, then why kill Doctor Witcher? I mean he actually helped us save Gris."

"I think Greg is on to something there," Cath spoke up, "if Witcher knew who was pulling the strings, then it would make sense to get rid of him as well. Together with the other idiots that helped. We took care of Burgess for him."

"Back to the original question," Brass said with a sigh, "who dunit?"

"Ecklie," Greg said, intending it as a joke, but before anyone could answer Sara's phone rang,

"It's Nick." She said as a way of explaining, "Hey Nicky how's Grissom?"

The only sound that she heard was a crashing noise in the background that had her pulling her phone away from her ear. She quickly put her phone on loudspeaker so that everyone could hear:

"NO! Stay away from …" the sound of metal impacting with flesh cut Nick's voice off, silence for a while then, "Why are you doing this?" Grissom asked softly. The next voice froze every heart in the display room, "Because you have been pissing me off for almost thirty years and I am tired of it. Time to die Grissom," Ecklie's voice was cold and the sounds of struggling were heard. Brass had heard enough and sprang into action just as the phone disconnected. Everybody raced to the hospital, hoping and praying they weren't too late….

**There you are, I will start running- so long. Before I go, let me know what you thought. I'm working on a new story idea, but I'm kind off stuck so go check out the new poll on my profile to vote. More reviews = happy CSIflea.**


	9. Chapter 9: AN

**Heya, I know you have all been waiting for an update, but I have decided to take a break over the next week or two.**

**I want to thank each and every one of my readers who reviewed, put up alerts and favourited my stories, even if you just read it. Thanks for all your support in 2012 and I hope to see you in 2013 again. There are some new stories coming up and some old ones finishing early next year, so keep an eye out.**

**Have a Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. May you have a blessed time with friends and family.**

**From everyone on the planet Fleasia,**

**Till next time,**

**CSIflea.**


	10. Chapter 10: Gil senior visits

The red-haired woman sighed as she got out of her car in the parking lot of the hospital. Three months. It had been three very long months since the team ran into the room of her best friend. Three months since they had lost Ecklie (not that anyone considered that a loss). Three months since Nick had smiled, but worst of all, three months since she last saw _his_ beautiful blue eyes. She walked through the too quiet halls to his room, feeling like she had never left. The nurses all greeted her by name and commented on the baby bump. Sara smiled politely and agreed that it was getting quite big, but there was no enthusiasm in her and if the nurses noticed it they didn't say anything.

They could understand that this woman was only barely trying to keep alive because the man she loves, the father of her baby, was lying in a coma with very little chance of ever waking up. One nurse in particular remembered that day, the day that life for this sad, young woman changed…

_**3 months earlier,**_

_They heard the screaming and the sounds of a struggle, but couldn't get into the room. Nurse Tamia Winston tried calling for security, but found the in-house communications down. About ten minutes later, everything went quiet – eerily quiet. Then, out of nowhere, a bunch of people came running down the corridor, shouting for everyone to get out of the way and clear the hallway. Nurse Winston refused to leave, arguing that if someone got hurt, they would need medical attention. The guy issuing orders (who she later found out was Captain Jim Brass) didn't chase her away after that. A couple of police officers took their places on opposite sides of the door; Captain Brass counted to three and then kicked in the door. A collective gasp went around then. _

_Two men were lying on the floor, the blood pools under them growing bigger. No one dared enter because a third guy was standing with a gun pointed at the door. He let out a horrible laugh and started talking. What he said didn't make sense to Tamia, but judging by the faces around her, they understood perfectly._

"_For 30 years I had to work with this son of a bitch. He didn't even work as hard as I did, but he got promoted over me time and time again. Every single day, I had to hear: 'Grissom this, Grissom that'. 'An asset for the Lab, one of the best entomologists in the country.' I am sick of it! Now he's gone. Finally, I can get rid of his fucking shadow and I can shine for a chance." _

_The man kept rambling. Brass tried to get him to drop the gun, but he just smiled. Suddenly the smile dropped of the man's face and he looked down at the man by his feet. A look of realization came over his face as he noticed blue eyes looking at him. Then a soft voice shocked the people even more._

"_I forgive you, Conrad."_

_Then the gunman started crying and quick as a flash put the gun to his head and pulled the trigger. Shouts of 'no!' went unheard as the man's lifeless body dropped to the floor. Tamia closed her eyes for a second and ran into the room, checking the man's pulse out of habit. Running back to the door she shouted for doctors and nurses to come for help. She turned back to assess the room and saw a red-haired woman kneeling by one of the men (the one who spoke, with the crystal blue eyes) talking softly to him, tears streaming down her face. He slowly lifted his arm and cupped her face, only to drop into unconsciousness seconds later._

_The other man was surrounded by a black man and a sandy haired guy, but he was unconscious – showing no signs of waking up. Just then medical help streamed in shoving everyone out the door._

_A couple of hours later the bad news was given about the coma and the red-haired woman became the sad person she is now._

Back in the present Tamia watched Sara walk into the room and sighed. It was just too sad for words.

When Tamia left after her shift a couple of hours later, she saw a blond woman walk in to relieve Sara. They had been doing this for three months. _When will it end? _The nurse thought sadly.

CSI LV

Across town in an apartment building a man was sitting with his fourth beer for the day, and that was only because the whiskey was finished. He had gotten off work early because he hadn't been concentrating anyway, so he got sent home. He knew his friends were covering for him, but he really couldn't care less. Worst of all, these days, getting drunk didn't help either.

Nick sat in his gloomy apartment, reeking of alcohol. He heard the knock on the door, but didn't get up to answer. _Whoever it is will get the message and leave_. The knocking stopped and Nick thought he was home free, but suddenly the door slammed open, revealing Brass, Warrick and Greg.

"What do you want?" Nick yelled in anger. He just wanted to be left alone!

"We want our friend and brother back," Greg said softly following the older men into the dirty apartment. It was only then that he saw Al Robbins and Catherine behind the first three.

"He's gone. Leave him alone!" Nick yelled again.

"We can't do that Nicky." Catherine's mothering tone was making him feel even worse.

"Grissom wouldn't want this, Nicky." Al said, knowing it would hit home. The Texan flew up and threw himself at the doctor. Brass and Warrick, who were stoic until then, grabbed Nick and threw him back on the chair.

"Shut up! What do you know about what he wanted?" Nick screamed, his anger slipping away slowly as tear began rolling down his cheeks.

"I know, because he's my friend," Al said calmly. "Just like he's Cath's friend and Jim's. You see? You are not the only one suffering, Nick Stokes."

"Just shut up, please please just shut up!" Nick's voice cracked.

"We need him back too, Nick," Warrick spoke up. Nick grabbed the sides of his head and started screaming for everybody to just leave and shut up. Brass watched the whole scene unfold and walked into the bathroom stepping, over empty beer cans and other bottles; seeing a shower, he opened the cold water tap and went back into the living room. He caught Al's eye and nodded.

Suddenly Brass leaned down and grabbed Nick by his collar and dragged him to the bathroom, followed by Warrick who quickly caught on.

"What are they doing?" Greg asked shocked as the three disappeared down the short passage.

"You can't argue with a drunken man, Greggo." Catherine sighed, looking at the mess around her.

"They are going to sober him up," Al explained as he saw the confused look on Greg's face. He turned to Cath. "What are we going to do?"

"We are going to clean. Maybe he will feel better when he sees he doesn't have to do this alone."

"Ok, I will start in the kitchen, you two start here?" Al asked.

"Can I help?" Sara asked from the door. No one had seen her come in. She glanced around the room, shaking her head. "He's still blaming himself."

"Sure." Cath walked over, giving the younger woman a hug. "Who's with Griss?"

"Sofia. The doctor said I had to take a break." Sara shrugged.

"Shall we?" Greg asked, coming out of the kitchen armed with black bags and other cleaning supplies.

CSI LV

A few hours later Sara was back at the hospital. She walked in and smiled as she heard Sofia reading softly. She felt lighter since she spoke with Nick and was glad he was able to come to terms with what happened. It was three months overdue, but necessary.

Sofia looked up as she walked in, putting the book down.

"How did it go?" the blond detective asked.

"Ok, I guess. He finally told us what happened. We cleaned his apartment while Brass and Warrick sobered him up. He still blames himself." Sara sighed and went on to tell Sofia what happened in Nick's apartment. Sofia laughed when Sara told her that Brass called Nick a wet dog after his first round in the cold shower. After a while, Sofia reached over and took Sara's hand in hers.

"He will be fine. You'll see," she said.

"I hope so. Problem is, the only one that can help Nick to get over his guilt is the one person who can't help right now," Sara said as tears came to her eyes.

The two women looked at the still form on the bed- each sending prayers to heaven that he would come back to them.

CSI LV

While the world waited for him to wake up, Grissom was having his own little war. He didn't know how long he was in this _abyss, _for lack of a better word, but he was getting ready to give up hope of ever getting out of it. He tried walking, running, jumping, screaming, but nothing worked. So he figured that maybe he wasn't meant to get out of it. He sat down on the floor and closed his eyes. Who wants go back to a world where he would be in pain in any way? What's there for him? Loneliness and death? No, sir, he wasn't going back. The head slap came out of nowhere and it made him yelp.

"What the …?" he shouted and whirled around. He saw his father standing there, glaring at him with eyes so similar to his own.

"I didn't realise that you were a quitter," his father said angrily.

"I'm not. I'm just tired. Too tired of all of this," Grissom said, feeling shy all of a sudden.

"Whatever, sounds like you are quitting to me," Gil senior said. "It is your choice though, but before you decide, let me show you something."

"Fine," Grissom mumbled.

Suddenly they were standing in the lab. A small boy ran to Sara, who had just come out of the break room. Grissom couldn't hear what they said, but there was no doubt that the boy was his son. Warrick came down the hall and the boy ran to him. A pregnant woman next to him.

"How is he?" Sara asked. Her voice impossibly soft.

"The same," Warrick said, sadly.

Grissom turned to his father and frowned. His father gave him a small smile before explaining.

"You died. Sara was pregnant with your son and, as you can see, he is a healthy boy. Love bugs too. Catherine took over your job and her relationship with Brass ended. He just couldn't take the idea of not seeing his best friend anymore and became reckless. He was shot on a raid a couple of days before he retired. Greg left the crime lab and opened his own store. Warrick stayed, as did Sara. Warrick, as you can see, has found love and Sara is just keeping alive for little Gil and nothing more. Al retired not long after you died and had a stroke that claimed his life a few years later."

As his father was talking, the scenes flashed before him. Brass' grave, Al's, Greg's store, Catherine looking old and worn out, Sara looking weary, Warrick - the only one actually living.

"What about Nicky?" Grissom asked shocked at how his family was falling apart around him. Could he leave them like this?

"You see, Nick blamed himself for what happened to you. He drank himself into a state and drove his car into a pole. He didn't get too hurt, but had a mental breakdown." They were standing in a mental hospital and his father pointed to a man standing by the window. Grissom walked closer and the man turned and looked straight at him. There was no fire in those brown eyes, he kept talking and Grissom had to really strain to hear him whisper the same phrase over and over again.

"Sorry Grissom, sorry dad, sorry Grissom, sorry dad, sorry Grissom." And Grissom felt his heart break.

In a blink of an eye, they were back in the horrible place from before.

"You have the power to stop all of it. All you need to do is fight." His father suddenly disappeared. Grissom felt empowered by the desire to keep his team safe and started climbing the rock in front of him. Higher and higher and he will kept climbing until he reached the top.

CSI LV

About a week after Nick's intervention, he was standing outside Grissom's room. He hadn't been there in three months. He just couldn't stand to see the man he looked up to lying there. He took a deep breath and walked in to find Sara sitting next to the bed reading.

"Hey," he said softly.

"Hey, good to see you out and about." She stood up and smiled as she hugged him.

"Yeah, thanks to Brass' cold shoulder and the rest of you showing me what a jerk I was." He looked over at the still form on the bed. "What did the doctor say?"

"Well, there is a big chance of brain damage, but we won't know unless he wakes up." She chose her words carefully.

"Which could be never?" Nick said closing his eyes.

"Yeah…." Sara started saying, but a moan from the bed cut her off. Nick turned into a human statue and Sara ran up to the bed.

"Grissom? Baby, can you hear me?" She reached for the call button while not taking her eyes of the figure on the bed. His eyelids opened slowly and he slammed them shut again. Groaning as the light hit his eyes.

"Sara?" His voice was hoarse from disuse and for the first time in three months he turned his head and his blue eyes locked onto her face. _Things are going to be ok now…_

**So what do you think? Epilogue or one more chapter. Reader's choice; put it in your review or pm me and there will be an extra chapter, or maybe a sequel.**

**Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed this story as well as everyone who put this on their fav or alert list. It was a blast writing this, even if I took so long to finish it. I am working on another CSI story, but will only post if I'm done writing it. Thanks to C. Nicole, my wonderful beta who makes my life easier.**

**Till next time, Flea….**


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